When a publicity stunt goes terribly wrong, twelve-year-old Darleen Darling, star of the silent film era, must defeat villains both on screen and off in this edge-of-your-seat adventure.
Lights! Camera! Kidnapping?
It’s 1914, and Darleen Darling’s film adventures collide with reality when a fake kidnapping set up by her studio becomes all too real. Suddenly Darleen finds herself in the hands of dastardly criminals who have just nabbed Miss Victorine Berryman, the poor-little-rich-girl heiress of one of America’s largest fortunes. Soon real life starts to seem like a bona fide adventure serial, complete with dramatic escapes, murderous plots, and a runaway air balloon. Will Darleen and Victorine be able to engineer their own happily-ever-after, or will the villains be victorious?
When she arrives at her grandmother's orphanage with little more than a French horn and all that's left of a broken wish, eleven-year-old Augusta "Gusta" Neubronner steps right into what her German-born father likes to call the clear light of trouble. Papa is a fugitive from the law, times are too tough in New York for her mother to keep her, and the Second World War is already looming on the horizon.
Gusta has to learn to bravely stand up to classmates suspicious of her un-American last name, to eye charts, and even to the villainous owner of the local mill. When she stumbles onto family secrets, Gusta must try her best to put things right - and to convince her grandma that music can be "real as jam." Sometimes it takes a whole orphan band to help a girl find her voice and her place in the world.
Acclaimed author Anne Nesbet deftly combines music, magic, family, and history in an unforgettable read.
